Iran’s sprint runner of 60m category Hassan Taftian took the fifth place of Birmingham Indoor Championships in England held on March 1-4.
According to International Athletics Association Federation website, Taftian raced alongside the top athletes of the 60m category, including all-time world record holder Christian Coleman.
With only 0.16 seconds from the winner, Coleman who ran the distance in 6.37 seconds, the Iranian finished fifth at 6.53 seconds. Taftian is also fifth in the ranking of 2017-18 season in the 60m indoor sprint running.
The record set by Taftian in Birmingham was 0.02 second slower than his record at Asian Indoor Championships in Tehran held on Feb. 1-3, which earned him the Asian gold medal.
The Iranian leopard also has the gold medal of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Coleman is placed first in the world ranking with a record 6.34 seconds set in Albuquerque, a city in the US state of New Mexico, on Feb. 18, to become the fastest 60m runner in history.
The tournament got underway on March 1 with more than 600 athletes from over 140 countries and finished on March 4.
American Coach
To help improve Iran sprint running, Iran Athletics Federation has made negotiations with former American sprint champion and current coach Gentry Bradley. He was the 1998 US Champion in the 200m.
In January 2014, Bradley coached Tosin Ogunode, a Nigerian-born sprinter who competed for Qatar, to an Asian indoor 60 meter record of 6.50 seconds. In March 2014, Bradley again proved successful. Under his oaching, Ogunode’s older brother Femi Ogunode achieved a bronze medal in the 60 meters at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland. It was be Qatar’s first IAAF medal in a sprint event in 21 years.
In September 2014 Bradley increased his success with Femi Ogunode at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, achieving gold medals in the 100 meters and 200 meters.
Bradley will guide Iranian sprint runners until Jakarta Asian Games slated for August 18- September 2.
